CRASH COURSE OR COURSE CRASH:Gaming, VR and a Pedagogical Approach

Dr. Brent ChamberlainLandscape Architecture & Regional and Community PlanningKansas State University

DLA Conference 2015June 6, 2015

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

• Geospatially-focused course

• Graduate and undergraduate Mix

• Little GIS knowledge, none for City Engine and Unity

QUESTION

How might I augment existing curriculum to grow spatial thinking, improve spatial design, and solidify fundamental landscape planning concepts (using new and fun techniques)?

TASK(S)

Develop a City

• Using a design process

• Learning about data needs

• Real-time interaction & feedback

Develop our City

• City of Manhattan, KS

• Implement CityEngine“wireframe”

• Aggieville representation

• Unity Migration

METHODSsimcity

• Game-based pedagogy(with no game training)

• Team-based

• Objectives: budget, approval rating, population size, creativity

• Unlimited funds

• Trial edition (4 hour limit)

WATER

AIR POLLUTION

EDUCATION FIRE RISK

WIND POTENTIAL

RESOURCES (IRON ORE)

RESULTSsimcity

Mix residential,

Isolated industrial (down wind);

Transit-oriented development,

Rapid transit on loop, to:

maximize happiness

METHODScityengine

Develop our City• City of Manhattan, KS

• Implement City Engine “wireframe”

• Aggieville representation

• Unity Migration

RESULTScityengine

• Completed development of GIS dataset

• Infastructure representation

• CityEngine wireframe and Unity Integration

DISCUSSIONsimcity

• Excellent learning opportunity

• Need to (slightly) modify game conditions

How enjoyable was the experience working with SimCity in class? (4.8, +0.4 of 5.0)

How useful was the SimCity exercise for understanding the

use of geospatial information for decision making and/or suitability analyses (4.4, +0.6 of 5.0)

DISCUSSIONcityengine

How enjoyable was the experience working with CityEngine in

class (3.5, +1.1 of 5)?

Would you have like to spend more time working with

CityEngine (4.1, +0.9 or 5.0)?

CONCLUSION

• Continued use of SimCity

• Excellent tool for data-informed design

• CityEngine integration requires course overhaul

• Useful tool for visualization

• Students are interested, but lose attention quickly

• Requires new set of tutorials and training

• A qualitative improvement in spatial thinking, design, and understanding of fundamental landscape planning concepts.

Dr. Brent ChamberlainLandscape Architecture & Regional and Community Planning

Kansas State Universityhttp://brentchamberlain.org

DLA Conference 2015June 6, 2015